BLATTA (BLABERUS) GIGANTEA? Livida, thoracis clypeo maculâ quadratâ
fuscâ, capite ferrugineo, elytris vittâ fuscâ longitudinali. (Long. Corp.
cum elytris 2 unc. 3 lin.)
SYN. Blatta Gigantea? _Linn. Syst. Nat._ 1. 2. _p._ 687. 1. _Fabr. Ent.
Syst._ 2. 6. 1. _Serville Revis. Orthopt. p._ 11. 1. _Oliv. Encyl. No._
1.
HABITAT: Jamaica (_Drury_). America, Asia (_Fabricius_). Cayenne
(_Serville_).
Head red brown, and withdrawn under the thorax, which covers it like a
hood. Antennæ brown, and shorter than the body. Thorax thin like a scale,
and of a dusky livid colour, the middle being brown, almost black. Wings
and wing-cases livid and thin; the latter having a brown streak, half an
inch long, running from the shoulders along the middle. Abdomen brown,
with two points at the extremity. Legs brown, the shins being full of
spines.
Fabricius, Serville, &c. have referred this figure to the Linnæan Blatta
gigantea, with the description of which it indeed corresponds; although, as
Drury observed, it is considerably smaller than that species. Drury states
that this is one of the species which is very frequent in houses in the
West Indies, and is called the Drummer, from the noise it makes by beating
against the wainscot.